I found it fun to look at these beautiful photographs/videos of stylish older women...probably not to be seen in Arlington, but the "hat attack" almost made me want to start wearing a hat...you can't be invisible/ignored if you're wearing a strikingly beautiful hat!

Dinner last night at Blue Mesa Grill in Arlington was so interesting. I met up with Dr. Ling Xu, Assistant Professor/Researcher from UTA's School of Social Work (left), and her friend, Vivian (right), who is Ling's former professor/mentor and who still works at the University of Hong Kong but traveled from Hong Kong to the States to attend the 2016 Annual Scientific Conference of the Gerontological Society of America in New Orleans last week.

Both Ling and Vivian have lived and worked on mainland China, as well as Hong Kong, and it was interesting to compare notes about how elders are cared for in both countries. One thing that seems to be in common between China and U.S. is that people who live in urban areas have much more access to health care and other benefits than people living in rural areas. I described a few personal anecdotes that I have been involved in recently where an elder did not receive adequate medical care which surprised both Ling and Vivian...that a country as "rich and compassionate" (?) as the U.S. would not do better by older people who need assistance.